The past year has seen Tencent’s TikTok-like short video service “deliver the expected results,” chairman and chief executive Pony Ma said at the tech titan’s annual staff meeting on Monday, while reaffirming his confidence in the company’s long-term development despite the sluggish general market. Details: A year after Ma positioned WeChat Channels as Tencent’s major hope for the future, he said that the short video-sharing function has brought “lots of surprises” and committed to fully supporting livestreaming-based commerce in 2024. Ma has called for WeChat, “the old tree”, to “sprout new shoots”. Context: Tencent shares have suffered in the past year but have not seen as big a slump as those of its Chinese internet peers, with the firm seeing a 16% decline in the value of its Hong Kong-listed shares. The company’s largest shareholder, South Africa-headquartered Naspers, added to the downward trend by cutting its stake in Tencent to less than 25% through frequent share selling in 2023.